Posts by GitMeMyShootinIrons

Driverless trucks roam Australian mines

And I, for one.....

Welcome our robotic wagon driving overlords. That's a big ten-four, rubber duck.

Pirate cops bust LITTLE GIRL, take her Winnie-the-Pooh laptop

Re: On the upside...

And so ends the whole concept of childhood. Now children need to have lessons in the three R's and copyright law?

What a narrow minded apologist. It starts with criminalising children with attempted copyright infringement. Where does it end?

This is a 9 year old CHILD...

She is likely not even aware that what she did was illegal - many adults aren't that sure. Equally, how do they prove that the father had any knowledge that the child attempted this?

This is a ridiculous act of 'summary justice', only matched by the brutal, ham fisted handling by the police.

Would the same gestapo tactics be employed for other minor deeds by a child? Doubtful. And as for the attempt to get the father to sign an NDA over the settlement, I too would apply FOAD as well and post the damn thing and the full story with as many news agencies as possible.

IBM insider: How I caught my wife while bug-hunting on OS/2

Re: Don't forget

Not 100% - there were a few minor fixpacks. I remember running around a bunch of satellite sites with a couple of floppy disks. Happy times!

Galapagos islands bombed with 22 tonnes of Blue Death Cornflakes

Re: Sounds like a great idea.

On the flip side, as we've already inflicted ourselves on this poor place in the traditional human style, perhaps it's a great place to try these ideas, than, say, the Brazilian rainforests.

Of course, we could have just gone down the boozer instead. It is nearly beer'o'clock.

HP PC chief: Microsoft's Surface is 'KLUDGEY'. There, I said it

Re: What always surprises me...

" ...does he surf the net on a surface when he's taking a dump..."

Now that's really not a pleasant image.

'I'm a PIRATE' confessions spew from OED iPhone dictionary

Were I a pirate....

I'd be just fine. I don't use Twitter.

Aaaarrrrgggghhh! Dead man's chest! Splice the main brace!

Skype IDs hijackable by ANY FOOL who knows your email address

And this is the replacement to Windows Messenger?

Fills me with real faith....

Take action on climate change or the panda gets it

Mmmmm....BBQ-Panda

"But essentially useless (not sure what they taste like - I may be prepared to revise that statement if they are particularly tasty)."

Was black and white, now black and charred. Serve with noodles.

FOlA judges: Secret 28 who made the BBC Green will not be named

Re: TV licences aren't exactly compulsory.

The TV license is tax by another name. If you want to watch TV, you have to pay the license, even if you don't want to anything to do with the Bolshevik Broadcasting Charlatans. Of course, Auntie Beeb is protected on high, so there was never any way little people (or license fee payers as they call them) were going to win.

This was nothing to do with protecting journalism. This was a means of deciding BBC bias, in spite of their so-called impartiality. All protected by expensive lawyers and cloak-and-dagger meetings behind closed doors.

It's the same as the tax on petrol - you don't want to pay, don't drive - still a tax though.

So yes, the license is a tax, pure and simple. To deny it makes you a BBC apologist or easily lead.

At last, a bionic arm that passes the Beer, Egg and Looks Cool tests

Re: £25k???

Go-faster stripes, DAB radio and a big chrome exhaust. Just don't ask where the latter gets fitted.

BBC in secret trial to see if you care about thing you plainly don't

"@Neil Barnes: What century do you live in where you need to pay for a radio license?"

Neil is essentially correct in that the BBC run some stations on AM. However, the amount of money the Beeb saves axing AM would be small enough that it'll be barely noticeably - it might pay the salary for a few window-watching middle managers or the fees for lawyers to protect them from FOI requests or Saville victims attempting to sue them.

Hitachi buys Horizon to save UK's nuclear future

Then you need:

1) Constant wind at the optimal value 24x7.

2) A massive amount of space to ensure that they don't disrupt each other. Either high ground (perhaps a nice national park will do...), or out at sea.

2) A fleet of landrovers/boats and diesel to keep them maintained.

3) Mucho quantities of concrete to mount them on - probably as much as you'd need for the nuke plant.

4) 216 turbines with those wonderfully environmentally friendly to mine Rare Earth metals.

5) Massive amounts of governemt subsidies to make it look economically viable.

Re: building projects in the UK. will it be this simple?

"Wattle and daub huts in Gloucs ?"

They could make the outer layer of the new Nuke Powerhouse out of wattle and daub. With a nice thatch roof and painted wood beams as an alternative.

Windows 8: Is Microsoft's new OS too odd to handle?

Re: Windows 8 task manager?

"special shade of purple - you know, the colour of someone's vomit after drinking red wine "

I knew I'd seen that colour before.

Apple's skinny new iMac line: Farewell, optical drives

Re: Niche legacy hardware?

"Hey Mr Designer, here's my USB drive/Dropbox account/etc."

Hey Mr Designer, I don't want to put my data on a 3rd party website that could be breached. Equally, I don't want you to alter the data I've given you. If you don't like a DVD, I'll find a designer with a Mac Pro or the last generation iMac - or a generic PC.

Save hefty Dr Who and Bond girl 'Flossie', pleads vintage computer man

Re: Unbeleivable

This is one seriously sizeable tablet. Even too big to describe as a suppository.

US climate-change skeptics losing support

Re: I drink Lewis Page's tearshake

Since when has public opinion been right?

I believe that there are a substantial number of Muslims who believe women shouldn't drive/have education/show their face - it doesn't make it right. In the 30's, there were quite a few people who thought that Stalin, Hitler and Mussolini were the good guys - that wasn't quite true either was it?

Public opinion surveys prove very little - like any statistics, they are easily skewed - either accidentally through when/where/how/who was surveyed (try this survey at a Republican oil baron's convention!), or by design by vested interests (eg Scots Nats ask Sean Connery a well worded question).

Why James Bond's Aston Martin Top Trumps the rest

Well....

Don't forget that Bond has driven that classic Rep Machine - the Ford Mondeo - in Casino Royale (one of the greatest examples of product placement cramming in movie history).

Apple banishes Java from Mac browsers

Click install to uninstall...

This sounds a little backward to me, but I guess it's a feature of the software. Maybe they're catching up with Microsoft's classic "Click Start to select shutdown"....

But hey, it's Friday, I don't care.

Windows 8 'bad' analyst says Store is a weakness

Re: Windows 8 Bad or author bad?

I agree, it is rather a poor argument - "the app store hasn't many apps, therefore it is rubbish" seems a little bit flawed. Any platform that sells a product range is going to go through a period of growth, usually quite sharply at the beginning (hopefully!).

Perhaps if the appstore was slated for being unstable, insecure etc, it would have been more valid.

And as for the stupid fgiures of tens of thousands of apps in the Google/iOS stores, it begs the question - just how many fart-noise makers and similar one-trick 'fun' apps does a person need?

Windows 8 has problems, sure, but I don't think the app store is one of them. Yet.

A lesser-known new feature in iOS 6: It's tracking you everywhere

Re: As long as they are tracking via iOS6 Maps......

This being the case, I'm never going to move over to Android...

Windows 8 pricing details announced as preorders begin

"You can't polish a turd, but you can roll it in glitter."

Or put it in a multicolour cardboard box....

Kissane to mould NetApp: Time to turn off the tap on ONTAP

"no disk-to-disk backup system"

SnapVault and Open Systems SnapVault?

As for VTL? Clunky and a bit old fashioned - backup to image on disk is more than sufficient for most needs.

The strength of ONTAP is that it isn't a disjointed kludge of components pretending to be a 'unified storage' solution (EMC, I'm looking a you) - it genuinely is unified. I agree that NetApp needs to broaden there horizons, but go to far and you end up master of none.

What NetApp need to do is sort out the software stack surrounding NetApp storage. Snapdrive is fine (but could do wth a built in scheduler), but the SnapManager suite is very disjointed, inconsistent and, at times, flakey. As for management, it's also a bit of a disaster at the moment, with the OnCommand suite badly in need of a decent GUI designer.

Vote NOW for the vilest Bond villain

Le Chiffre...

By virtue that all beancounters are inherently evil, not to mention that he's a pretty unpleasent character in general.

Microsoft fast-tracks Windows 8 Service Pack updates

Re: Err...

"Time is free. If someone else is charging you for their time, you got done. ;)"

So you work for nothing? Very generous. I prefer getting paid.

Time is free in the galactic sense, possibly, however, my time is a finite resource (if only by virtue of my life expectancy). Like any finite resource, it has a value, that being defined by the skills required and how rare those skills are in the market - e.g. plenty of people can sweep floors, less can code an OS, hence the latter gets paid more.

Are we learning something yet?

40,000 sign petition to oust Rep. Paul 'pit of hell' Broun

Re: Proving yet again that the inmates are running the asylum

"If the Tories are any indication right wing nuttery and incompetence are transnational."

But given their long, illustrious history of screwing up the country, Labour are just as bad (let's not forget the 'loony left').

US trounces UK in climate scepticism jibber-jabber

True, but science can be used as an excuse to justify almost anything, such as increasing taxation to levels far beyond reason - case in point being the tax escalator on UK fuel prices.

Intel pushes Atom-fueled storage for homes, SMB

Non-expert home users shouldn't need to worry about what OS it's running. Like mass-market Blu-ray players, media streamers and washing machines, they should simply be seen as appliances that do the job they're asked to do with the simplest interface and best reliability. The end user shouldn't need to know/care whether it's Linux, Windows or some custom beast.

In the case of a NAS, it depends on the features required, but in all cases, there needs to be a well documented backup mechanism, whether cloud based, or a USB hard disk or another PC/storage device. As someone else has put it - RAID is not backup, it's just better resilience.

Forget Apple's AirPlay - it's Windows 8 you want, says speaker maker

Re: Hello!? Standards!?

Bluetooth is OK for headsets and hooking it into a PC, but see how many NAS servers support Bluetooth. How about multiple sources supporting multiple devices easily? Also, why should I broadcast yet another network stack around the house when I have a perfectly good wired/wireless LAN? A standard protocol for delivery over IP networks answers this - DLNA is a pretty good starting point for this, but Apple and others love that funky proprietary vibe to sell more tin.

Take Apple TV (and I mean the little box, not the mythical TV) - a lovely little box, hobbled by Apple's insistance on either web based services or a PC/Mac with iTunes - forget using it with a 3rd party iTunes server or DLNA or even good old CIFS file services.

Assange movie portrays leaker as teen rebel

Re: Only in nightmares...

I pray for women frequently. Well, at least beautiful ones to throw themselves at me.

However, my prayers are seldom answered....

EE sets October date to power up UK 4G network

Not worth worrying about...

Let the early adopters go through the pain.

By the time coverage is at least worthwhile and technical issues have been put to bed, your S3, iPhone 5 etc will have been replaced by the S4 and iPhone 5S.

I'm staying on my current phone, stable with 3G on a cheap rate until 4G is worth the effort.

New science: seas will rise due to CO2 ... but not for centuries

Which 'truth' to believe?

So you don't like this opinion/evidence because it doesn't tally with your opinion/evidence that you believe?

Climate science is the latest religion - with all the same schisms and factions all bickering over which 'truth' is correct. Like religion, it's all rather comical. Each vocal faction (Global warming or not, human effect or not) is guilty of the same thing - waving their own 'evidence' in the air and slagging off everyone else's.

Thing is, like religious differences, there is no concrete evidence to actually put one opinion over any other, while there are plenty of contradictory models, theories and ideas. So all the zealots pick the 'God' of their choice, and all others are heathen 'non-believers'.

So, come all ye climate fanatics, both pro and con. Keep bickering - the hot air alone will probably cause man-made global warming.

Just don't resort to guns and IEDs. Like religion, it just isn't worth it.

iPad mini to go on sale in one month?

Re: Saw them being built two weeks ago

They had realised that making plastic mock ups to sell to analysts was more profitable than making the real thing.... :-)

HP Spectre XT 13in Ivy Bridge Ultrabook review

But even the Air is compromised...

I like the Air (not keen on OSX, but that's just a personal preference and not the point here), but it's connectivity is limited. No ethernet (not even 10/100) and no HDMI - while you can get adapters, these add to the cost.

There appear to be few Ultrabooks that really tick all the boxes. Somewhat surprising really.

Agreed.

Given that more and more applications are recommending higher resolutions, this is becoming an issue. Were I paying £300-400, I could accept this resolution, but this is a bit poor on a £900 machine, even with SSD, a slim form factor and a fancy new processor.

Sharp punches out über-retina phone screen

Too big...

As already pointed out, it would make a nice photoframe screen, but other than that, it's a bit of a lame duck size.

It's too small to be worthwhile as a tablet screen (perhaps 7" at a minimum), but too big to be useful on a phone - Around 4" - much bigger is too cumbersome for a phone, which is what puts me off many high-end Android handsets and may put me off the Nokia 920.

We do need better resolutions on cheaper 12"-15" - too many laptops with 1366x768 out there.

Vote now for the ultimate bacon sandwich

Some good options, none of which I'd reject...

...except the Peanut Butter monstrosity. Don't get me wrong, I like peanut butter, with jam (as an Englishman - we don't *do* 'jelly'), but as an accompaniment to bacon is just plain wrong.

However, I should point out that none of these include fried mushrooms, which is a let down. Of the list, I'd go with the killer tomato option. However, my personal weapon of choice would be:

- Best quality lean bacon, smoked (obviously) - not that watery cheap crap of questionable origin.

- Mushrooms - pan fried in butter - and take plenty of time on this.

- Tinned tomatoes, with a splash of worcester sauce.

- Crusty cobs (or baps to you uncivilised folks elsewhere) - Adds texture and absorbs the fat/tomato juices nicely. Baguette is not a substitute - wrong consistency and shape.

All rounded off with a decent cup of tea. NOT coffee. Coffee is for work, when you're breathing life into a failed server or trying to get through the drone of a project manager during a meeting.

Now LG Display smacks Samsung with patent lawsuit over OLED

Re: Litigation's Good

Or "Suing And More Suing Until No Good"...

Re: Litigation's Good

Or, perhaps it could be Lawyer's Gold or Legal Grasping.

Scientists: 'Castration is the key to a longer life'

Re: UNIX?

I think you're referring to a different sort of 'up' time...

Hitachi claims glass data storage will last millions of years

Re: A nice shiny thing for a pendant... (ASCII code system got lost along the way...)

"and magnetic tapes would get woven into fabrics."

Not the softest underwear....

Latest iPhone hacked to blab all your secrets

Re: There is no vulnerability

Actually, following your logic, holding it wrong would actually close the vulnerability on an iPhone 4 (in a sledgehammer/walnut style). Of course, that issue was fixed on the 4S and 5, so these would remain vulnerable...

Microsoft releases VMware-eater

Ho hum....

And VMware Converter is how old?

Also, hasn't the abomination called System Center (specifically SCVMM) had the ability to convert VMware VMs for a while too?

None of this convinces me that Hyper-V (even the much improved 2012) is fit for much more than small installations or test/dev. A funky converter is a trinket - better security, better networking, greater reliability, greater (and simpler) scalability and management are what's needed. Hyper-V ain't there yet!

As the old proverb says "wait for the first Service Pack".

Google defends drowning Acer's newborn Alibaba Linux mobe

Re: Hmmmmmm....

"And yet Apple is a walled garden lol"

Indeed. However, it doesn't let OEMs use it's OS and then use blackmail when the OEM is so dependent on it and then does something that might compete (or reduce the dependency.

Google really are starting to pick up where Microsoft left off - bullying hardware outfits into submission. Microsoft got it's bottom spanked by the courts - I wonder if Google will get that far?

Hate the Windows 8 touch UI? Try Kinect-like finger shaking instead

Re: I am all for greater R&D on input devices

In great need of exercise to burn calories, I don't see a downside here - combine exercise with working behind a desk: Onto a winner here!

Microsofties to get Windows 8 Surface tabs

Re: Hot-desking?

It's not the greasy food that worries, it's the dude with poor post-toilet hygiene. Aren't keyboards already supposed to be a germ trap?

I suppose a screen is easier to clean - just keep a box of antiseptic wipes nearby...

iPhone 5: skinny li'l fella with better display, camera, software

Re: Bob the Samsung guy?

"You misheard- he's a BARRISTER."

Shouldn't go there - the legal professional is even lower down the foodchain in my experience.

Haynes Build Your Own Computer book review

Re: Pfft. Amateurs!

Badly finished cases are by design - after all, how else is one to make the necessary blood sacrifice in order to make the damn thing work?

Intel to turn Ultrabooks, all-in-one desktops into giant tablets

Re: Touch on anything above 7 inch is pointless s41t

I don't know about 7". I'd say up to A4 is fine, but weight and bulk must be absolutely minimal.